Isabelle Adriani Academy 

In the well-known passage of the Divine Comedy (Purgatory, Canto XVI) Dante Alighieri thus immortalized the three old wise men, among the very few men of great moral value left in his time and with whom the old age reproaches the new: Corrado da Palazzo , Gherardo da Camino and Guido da Castello.

The first is Corrado III da Palazzo , whom Dante calls "the good Corrado", one of the most important characters among the protagonists of the 13th century in Italy: he was the Powers of Florence, Siena, Piacenza, Trento and Capitano del Popolo in Milan, Captain of the Massa dei Guelfi and Viceroy of Charles I of Anjou. During the period of the Florentine potestaria (1276), as Vicar Regio, a patrimonial process between the Alighieri and the church of San Martino concluded with a favorable sentence for the family of Dante: hence a further reason for the poet's sympathy for Corrado , among the representatives of that Lombardy in which "it was only courage and courtesy to be / before Federigo had trouble".

Italian politician and military, Corrado III da Palazzo was born in Brescia around 1230. He was leader of the Guelph faction in thirteenth-century Brescia. Son of Giacomo, certified in 1206 as a member of the Credenza Council of the Municipality of Brescia, he belonged to a noble family of the Guelph side, well integrated in the city, but with strong interests also in the Contado (the possessions were concentrated particularly in the Pievato of Cividale) . Exponent of the pars ecclesie and faithful to Charles I of Anjou (Paris 1226-Foggia 1285), on February 24, 1265, with Federico Lavellolongo and Inverardo Bornati, he was procurator of the Brescia extrinsics who, gathered in Milan, founded a league including the same city, the della Torre family, Azzo VII d'Este, the count of Verona and the Municipalities of Mantua and Ferrara. This alliance had the purpose of advocating the military intervention of King Charles in Italy and was confirmed the next day with a solemn oath, during which Corrado was defined as the "mayor and procurator" of the Brescia exiles. He held the same position when, on March 27, 1265, he stipulated a "perpetuam amicitiam" together with other personalities linked to Anjou with which the exiles from Brescia would have favored the passage of the king in Lombardy in exchange for help in the reconquest of their city. He took part in subsequent military events, up to the victorious return to Brescia (1266) with the other Guelph exiles. Consistent with his policy, on 22 May 1270 he signed the dedication of the city to Charles of Anjou.

In the following period, Corrado III participated in the war which opposed his side to the expelled Ghibellines and therefore to the peace negotiations organized by Pope Gregory X which saw the conclusion of an agreement in October 1272 in Coccaglio.
In 1276 he was appointed Podestà in Florence and Vicar of Charles of Anjou.
At the end of his mandate, on 15 December 1276, he succeeded Giovanni da Pescarolo in the position of Captain of the Massa dei Guelfi. Having concluded this post, he probably returned to Brescia to strengthen the pro-Angevin party.

In 1279 he was appointed Podestà of Siena, concluding the peace with Florence. Between 1283 and 1284, again in Brescia, he made the Brescians triumph against Trento, reconquering some Garda towns, occupied some time ago by the Bishop of this city.
In 1279 he was elected Captain and in 1288 Power of Piacenza.
On 6 June 1287, having become Captain of the People of Milan, succeeding his brother Carlo da Palazzo, he signed the appointment of the procurator for the conclusion of an agreement with Amedeo V of Savoy. On June 8 he took part in the ratification of the covenant and on June 22 he took part in the oath.

Returning to his homeland, he repressed the revolt in Valcamonica thanks to the help of the Visconti. In 1289 he was appointed Podestà of Piacenza, facilitating the rise of Alberto Scotti to the lordship of the city and the defeat of the Ghibelline part led by the Landi.
After this event there is no news of him. According to the quote from the Divine Comedy, he must still have been alive in 1300.